


two birds and a stone

by batsinboots



Series: loz modern au [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, Linebeck is Link's Guardian, Mentioned Tetra (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27736345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/batsinboots/pseuds/batsinboots
Summary: After Tetra grudgingly recommends a book she thinks he'd like, Link is on a quest to find a copy for himself.He'd really appreciate it if Linebeck could stop being weird long enough for him to get it.
Relationships: Ganondorf/Linebeck (Legend of Zelda)
Series: loz modern au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028874
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	two birds and a stone

**Author's Note:**

> In which Ganondorf is evil but also sexy, Linebeck is an asshole who's only partway through his character development, and Link is the perpetually annoyed 12 year old who has to deal with them.

Link wakes up with a headache.

Through the wall beside his bed, he can hear the source of it—Linebeck working on one of his projects without a care for Link’s sleep schedule. Though he never bothers to explain what he’s doing when Link asks, he’s snooped enough since he first arrived to find the model ships that Linebeck keeps locked away, like he expects Link to try and break them at the first chance he gets.

Like Link cares about his weird, old man hobbies enough to bother.

Eventually, he determines that he won’t, in fact, be falling back asleep. So, groaning at the unfairness of having to be awake before noon, he sits up, rubbing at his eyes. When he curls his hands into fists, his palms sting, and he grins as he stretches his fingers out, feeling oddly proud of the scrapes.

He’s earned every one of them.

He only started hanging out at the skatepark a month ago, and he’s already better than Niko at doing tricks.

Tetra won’t admit it, but he knows she’s impressed with how quickly he’s learning.

Which reminds him!

Ignoring Ciela’s chirp of protest and the way she lashes her tail at him, he lifts her carefully from his lap and leaps out of bed, stopping just long enough to change into clothes Linebeck won’t turn up his nose at. Running his hands through his hair in lieu of a brush, he hurries out into the hall, almost slipping on his socked feet. He rights himself in the doorway to Linebeck’s room, rapping his knuckles on the open door.

Linebeck, who appears to be concentrating very hard, only lets out a questioning hum.

“Take me to the bookstore,” Link says.

At this, Linebeck looks up from his work, a look of exaggerated surprise on his face. He spins his chair to face the doorway, like he wants to make sure Link gets the full effect of his expression. “What was that?” he asks, holding his hand up to his ear. “Do my ears deceive me?”

Link huffs, crossing his arms. “Will you _please—“_

“Why, all this time, I thought I was living with a mouse!”

“You—! _”_ Link starts, only to grit his teeth when he’s interrupted again. 

“Decided I’m worth speaking to again, have you?” Linebeck finishes, like Link hasn’t said anything at all. In one hand, he’s twirling a screwdriver. The other is propped beneath his chin as he waits for Link’s reply.

And Link wants to say more. He really does.

He wants to call Linebeck all sorts of names and maybe even curse, but the words won’t come. They’re too big—too _much._ So instead of doing what he wants, he turns on his heel and stomps back to his room, ignoring the way his eyes burn.

He slams his door the rest of the way open, startling Ciela, who leaps from his bed and darts between his legs into the hall.

Shoving down the guilt at scaring her, he marches over to his desk, grabbing a marker and a pad of paper. As he stares down at the paper, covered in past messages that have since been crossed out, he can almost hear his grandma’s voice in his head, chiding him for being rude, asking him what’s wrong. If she were here, he thinks, the words would come easy. But she isn’t here. She’s back home with Aryll and Saria and Ruto, and he’s _here_. Stuck with Linebeck in a city he hates with a new school and a new place to live and _no friends_ , except—

That’s not true, he knows.

Not really.

He does have friends. Just yesterday, Tetra told him about the book she’s reading, because she thought he’d like it. And yeah, she acted annoyed the whole time and punched him in the arm, after, but she’d _told him_.

Which is why he needs to go to the bookstore, so he can read it too, and they can talk about it, and—

“Link,” he hears from the doorway. He freezes, marker clenched in his hand. He doesn’t look up. Maybe if he ignores Linebeck long enough, he’ll leave him alone until he’s done writing—until his message is so perfect that Linebeck won’t even think of laughing at his handwriting. “Link, will you look at me?”

He takes a deep breath and holds it, imagines his lungs expanding big enough to crush the burning out of his chest.

He’s _fine._

So fine, in fact, that he does as Linebeck asks. Twisting the marker’s cap, he looks up and meets Linebeck’s gaze. This is the first time he’s seen the man look so serious.

It’s. . . odd.

He doesn’t ask what’s wrong. He doesn’t want to let go of the marker to sign.

“Why do you want to go?” Linebeck asks.

Link frowns, considering. He refuses to tell him about Tetra or her recommendation; the man would only make fun of him. He writes on the pad, then flips it around for Linebeck to read. ‘A book.’

“A book in a bookstore,“ Linebeck says dryly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Who would’ve guessed? You know, I don’t appreciate the cheek, young man.” When Link only stares blankly back at him, he deflates just a little. “Though I suppose I deserve it.”

Link doodles Linebeck tripping and falling face-first into a bag full of trash. He shows this to him, too.

Linebeck looks up to the ceiling, like he’s asking Hylia for patience. He does this a lot around Link. “That, too,” he says, then sighs. “You need this book today?”

Link nods, though he doesn’t actually know when he’ll see Tetra again.

“Alright,” Linebeck says, shoving away from the doorway. “Fine. Grab your sh—stuff, and let’s go.”

Link abandons Linebeck as soon as they’re through the door to the bookstore, unwilling to be seen with him any longer than he has to. As he usually does whenever he graces the public with his presence (his own words, repeated to Link too many times to count), the man has decked himself out in his flashiest clothing, puffing himself up as they walk and attracting all sorts of stares. A block ago, two women actually _blushed_ when he grinned at them.

It’s the _worst._

Thankfully, he finds the book he wants easily enough. He doesn’t even have to ask for help.

Not so thankfully, he runs into a. . . familiar face between the shelves.

Two weeks ago, he'd stopped on his walk back from the park to give directions to a tall, red-haired man who was dressed in a suit that even Link could recognize as fancy. Link rememberers him well, because in addition to being quite possibly the biggest man he’s ever met, he’s also the scariest, though his smile had seemed friendly enough at the time.

When he’d told Tetra—who’d claimed his weird mood was giving her hives—about him, she’d grimaced and said he sounded like trouble.

And she was right, he thinks.

Since that first meeting, Link has been seeing him _everywhere._ It’s getting to the point where he’s actually thought about telling Linebeck, though he’s skeptical about how helpful he might be.

“Link, my boy,” Gan—ruining Link’s hopes of getting away without being seen—greets him with cheer that he _knows_ is false, though he isn’t sure he could explain how if asked, “what a surprise! What brings you here today?”

He lifts his book for Gan to see, face blank as he aims his gaze somewhere near his chin, and the man's smile, already strained, falters.

“Ah, of course.” In the pause that follows, Link wonders if it’d be rude to walk away in the middle of their conversation. “Do you enjoy reading?”

He shrugs, looking back down at his book and flipping it open.

Somewhere else in the store, he hears Linebeck’s laugh, followed by another that’s higher pitched, and he rolls his eyes. He looks over his shoulder and leans to peer beyond the shelf, where he sees Linebeck all but striking a pose for one of the bookstore’s employees.

Ugh.

How embarrassing.

“Tell me,” Gan says, after enough time had passed that Link thought the odd man had already left. Link almost drops his book as he jumps, startled. “Who’s your friend?”

There’s an odd tone to his voice when he says it, and it’s strange enough that Link actually looks up at his face for the first time during this conversation, eyes wide as he takes in his blatant interest. What is he. . . ? He follows Gan’s gaze, scowling when he realizes just who he’s looking at. “He’s not my friend,” he mutters, surprising himself with the words. “I’m just living with him.”

“Oh?”

Realizing Gan won’t stop bothering him until he gets an answer, Link lets out a heavy sigh. “That’s Linebeck,” he says. “He’s annoying, and he’s, like, fifty years old. ”

There’s a loud crash behind him, and Link whirls to see Linebeck pointing accusingly at him from the end of the aisle, surrounded by the books he must have knocked over in an offended fit. “Slander! I’m _thirty-five,_ you—" He cuts himself off, mouth hanging open as he looks past Link, his gaze trailing slowly up to Gan's face. He gulps. “Uh. H-hey there.”

Gan grins. It looks like a threat.

“Hello,” he says, voice deeper than before.

Link narrows his eyes as he looks between them, suspicious. “You’re being weird,” he tells Gan. Ignoring the surprised chuckle that follows, he looks back at Linebeck, who’s still staring, cheeks flushed. He’d say the same to him, but Linebeck is _always_ weird, so technically this is normal. “I’m leaving.”

That said, he tucks his book beneath his arm and marches toward the checkout counter by the door, swiping Linebeck’s wallet as he goes.

**Author's Note:**

> i fully expect that no one will read this, but im having fun so it's all good


End file.
